I am a man on a mission. I've moved too many times and been faced with too many colorful aisles of micro brews to choose from. I've decided to put an end to the madness...and try them all. My plan is to chronicle my journey for all of you, whether I encounter success or failure. So sit back and enjoy and if there's one or two brews that you would like to suggest...please feel free to let me know and I will hunt them down as if...I were a Man On A Mission. - Doug (on the road since 2011)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Brewery Profile - Black Raven Brewing Company in Redmond, WA

Located in an unassuming business park in Redmond, Black Raven
Brewing provides a critical community service: it gives Redmond’s beer lovers a
place to congregate and enjoy some of the best beer in the Pacific
Northwest–beers that oftentimes can be found nowhere else. But that’s not all.
Work your way to the front of the longest line at most of the area’s beer
festivals and you will likely find Beaux Bowman, the owner and brewmaster at
Black Raven Brewing, serving beer to people from all across the region. Since
it’s inception, Black Raven is typically the most popular tent at any beer
festival it attends.

The brewery and taproom opened in Redmond in the spring of
2009 and Black Raven Brewing quickly earned a reputation for creative,
interesting and delicious beers. The young brewery has already won its share of
medals at renowned tasting competitions, including a highly coveted Gold Medal
from the 2010 World Beer Cup for its Coco Jones Coconut Brown Porter.

Robert “Beaux” Bowman is the owner and brewing genius at
Redmond’s 2-year-old Black Raven Brewing Company, one of the most talked-about
young breweries in the Northwest. On any given day, you’ll find him balancing
the daily tasks of operating a brewery that has an insatiable need to grow.

Bowman’s career began at Mac and Jack’s Brewing. He
continued his brewing career at the now-defunct Far West Ireland Brewing
Company. Bowman then moved on to pick up brewing gigs here and there at places
like The RAM Universtity Village, Lazy Boy Brewing, and any other place he
could get his paddle in the mash.

In opening Black Raven Brewing, Bowman moved slowly and with
purpose. Behind Black Raven’s success is some very careful planning; from the
beginning, Bowman rushed nothing. The brewery and taproom came together slowly
and deliberately; he and his team carefully crafted each recipe; and Bowman now
artfully manages and contains the brewery’s growth.

Step inside the Raven’s Nest, the taproom at Black Raven
Brewing Company, and you will find yourself transported. Let the beer and the
ambiance cast its spell. You will soon forget that you are in a boring Redmond
business park. Order some food from Flying Saucer Pizza and wash it down with a
Coco Jones Porter (if you’re very lucky), Trickster IPA, Totem Northwest Pale,
or another award-winning beer.

Black Raven opened in 2009 and immediately needed to expand
both its brewing and seating capacity. As of November 2011, a new and larger
brewery is on the way and the Raven’s Nest continues to expand and increase
capacity. There are plans to add a barrel room as well. The brewery’s
barrel-aged beers are especially popular.